Citation
Uglanova, Ekaterina (2014). Gender dimensions of subjective well-being in Russia.. Eckermann, Elizabeth (Ed.) (pp. 135-155). Springer Netherlands.Abstract
In Russia, throughout the whole period of transition, men consistently demonstrated slightly higher levels of satisfaction with life. It is well known, however, that there is an interaction effect between gender, age, and subjective well-being. This chapter explores gender differences in subjective well-being over the life span in Russia. The bivariate evidence suggests that the gender satisfaction gap exists mostly at the expense of elderly women, whereas in younger groups, females are even more satisfied than males. Among men, satisfaction gradually declines until late 40s, and then remains relatively stable. Control for marital status, household income and self-reported health produces a U-shaped satisfaction curve for both genders. Within-subject analysis also reveals a U-shaped pattern for both men and women. Although subjective well-being appears to be more stable across the life span, it may be assumed if individual heterogeneity is not controlled for.The chapter is structured as follows. The first section briefly reports across-gender statistics in domains deemed to be related to objective conditions for quality of life, such as life expectancy, engagement in economic activities, income, and unemployment rates. Then, an overview of existing literature on gender and age differences in subjective well-being is provided. Gender-age interaction is also discussed. Next, trends in subjective well-being among men and women in Russian are discussed.